"Down with Love" Concert Donations: September Update
Lewis, Richard M.
Dear friends, neighbors, and colleagues,
Many thanks to those of you who were able to attend our Aug. 24 concert, Down with Love: Battle of the Exes in Broadway, Opera, and the Great American Songbook. On a very busy weekend, we had a good crowd of audience regulars as well as new faces – always great to see! We are now busy working to create the video package for our YouTube broadcast, to be released in October – stay tuned for details. We look forward to sharing our fifteenth annual concert with our online audience this fall.
Many thanks as well to those who have donated to the literacy and arts programs at Fairview Elementary School! I am happy to report that we have received more donations to date than at this time last year. Including kick-off contributions from Kiwanis Club of Bloomington and Goldin Appraisals, our donations have surpassed $4,200, and new gifts continue to arrive. I am so grateful to our generous audience members, including those who were not able to attend our concert in person but still have chosen to donate. Thank you!
If you wish to make a donation, you can find instructions in the attached image. (As always, there is no obligation to give.) Please let me know if you have any questions, and thank you for your interest and support!
With best wishes,
Richard Lewis
Cell: 917-449-5284
On Aug 18, 2025, at 7:30 AM, Lewis, Richard M. <rmel...@iu.edu> wrote:
Dear friends and colleagues,
We are just days away from our fifteenth annual free community concert – Down with Love: Battle of the Exes in Broadway, Opera, and the Great American Songbook. We hope to see you this Sunday, August 24 at 4:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 221 E. Sixth Street at Lincoln in Bloomington. (Parking options include the church parking lot on Seventh Street between Washington and Lincoln; free meters on nearby streets; and free visitor parking in Poplars Garage.)
We are so excited to feature great tunes by Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, and Bloomington’s own Hoagy Carmichael – along with operatic scenes by Mozart, Bizet, and Puccini – as we focus on two feuding exes who show up to perform at the same gala concert. They are brought together by their booking manager who wants to barter a truce – but who has another motive as well. Will romantic chemistry save the day, or will everyone declare that they are done – and down – with love? Bloomington baritone Richard Lewis is joined by operatic colleagues from Pittsburgh, Baton Rouge, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina to bring these characters to life with fantastic music.
As many of you know, at our concert we accept donations to benefit literacy and arts integration programs at Bloomington’s Fairview Elementary School. Your generosity helps provide local Fairview students – whose families often face significant economic challenges – with opportunities to excel in ways they may never have dreamed possible. We will share more information at the concert about ways to give in person, by QR code, or securely online – or email me directly for that info. Since 2014, you – our generous audience – have raised over $36,000 for these vital student programs. Thank you!
For now, we hope that whether you are “up with love” or “down with love,” you will join our concert on Sunday, August 24 at 4:00 p.m. Feel free to share this invitation (and the attachment) with others. See you soon!
Thanks and all the best,
Richard Lewis
Cell: 917-449-5284
